For Kim Jong Il, a Holiday From Infamy, Illness and Unrest

By

Evan Ramstad

Updated Aug. 6, 2009 11:59 p.m. ET

SEOUL -- Bill Clinton's one-day visit to North Korea offered dictator Kim Jong Il a momentary respite from a difficult summer during which he has contended with reports of unrest at home and growing pressure from abroad.

About a month ago, North Korea asked for the former U.S. president to come to Pyongyang in exchange for the release of two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were captured by North Korean soldiers on the border with China in March. Mr. Clinton and the U.S. agreed, seizing on the chance to free the journalists and move on from the issue in order to concentrate on pressuring North Korea to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In return, Mr. Kim scored two propaganda victories: a chance to show North Koreans that he cuts a big figure, by appearing with Mr. Clinton, and a chance to show the world he isn't such a bad person, by freeing two women who didn't deserve their sentence of 12 years of hard labor.

The event allowed North Korea to provide a counterpoint to months of belligerence in the form of hostile rhetoric and weapons tests, which other nations penalized with new economic sanctions.

North Korea's biggest newspaper, Rodong Shinmun, covered its front page Wednesday with five large pictures of Mr. Kim and Mr. Clinton. A small article said the pair discussed issues of common concern between the two countries. On the third page, a small article described Mr. Kim's decision to free the two reporters.

North Korean officials "convey the impression of one of the most senior statesmen paying tribute to Kim Jong Il without mentioning he came for the sake of the two reporters," said a person familiar with the patterns of the nation's media.

The meeting -- and the photos of a smiling, standing Mr. Kim -- could also help to address concerns abroad about his health, and cut short any potential doubts at home. North Korea's increased belligerence in recent months followed reports that Mr. Kim had suffered a stroke, raising questions about a leadership vacuum -- and possibly motivating a show of strength by Pyongyang.

Because North Korea sharply limits contact and travel between its citizens and the outside world, it will take weeks to accurately gauge public reaction inside the country to Mr. Clinton's visit.

The trip came at a time when North Korean leaders have been driving the country's 20 million citizens back to the basics of their repressive and ultranationalist ideology -- and encountering growing resistance.

The shift to hard-line behavior has been most visible to the outside world by the acceleration of weapons tests, including a long-range missile in April and a nuclear explosive in May. But it has taken many other forms inside North Korea, including the expulsion of international aid workers, investigations of border guards and the revival of an old propaganda tactic -- a nationwide campaign, dubbed the "150-day battle," steeped in militant rhetoric and designed to increase production and instill respect and fear in Mr. Kim's regime.

A chief feature of the "battle" campaign has been crackdowns on market activities, including forcing men and women under 50 years old to work in state-owned factories and businesses rather than their engage in market activities of their own.

In recent weeks, more reports of clashes between North Korean citizens and local police and government officials have been coming in to South Korea-based aid groups such as Good Friends, a Buddhist charity, and news outlets that focus on the country.

When city officials swept through a market looking for women to work in factories in the town of Suncheon two months ago, they were shouted down by vendors, according to a report gathered by Good Friends. Recent efforts to thwart people from growing their own crops have also failed.

"The government is trying to control the market, but the number of stakeholders in the market is larger than ever," says Howard Young, executive director of Open Radio, a shortwave radio service that broadcasts to North Korea. "Not just ordinary people but also government officials and even higher-level officials have an interest in sustaining the markets because they are the main source of money."

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